US Rallies to Defeat Paraguay at Under 17 World Cup

It looked like the US Under 17 Women’s National Team was headed to another poor result at the 2008 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.   A subpar first half found the Americans down 1-0, but the ladies regrouped and rallied  to score three goals after the break, winning 3-1 win against Paraguay in its second Group C match.  The USA will now meet France on Nov. 5 at Auckland’s North Harbour Stadium in the final Group C match for both teams with a spot in the quarterfinals on the line. 

American head coach Kazbek Tambi made eight changes from the team that fell to Japan in the first match and even with all the switches, the US took the game to the South Americans in the early going. The Americans created a handful of scoring chances and had several dangerous looking crosses, mostly through the left flank work of Olivia Klei, but the best first half chance came from the right wing in the 27th minute.   Forward Samantha Johnson did well to wiggle free inside the penalty area and ran uncontested at the near post. She drew the keeper out and played the ball across the face of the goal, but somehow Alexis Harris cut her shot wide left from inside the six yard box missing the open net.

In the 31st minute, US captain Kristie Mewis took off on a long dribbling run followed by a shot, but it skipped wide right from 22 yards out.   During the last 15 minutes of the half, Paraguay got a little rhythm and had several nice attacks, almost all of them through Gloria Villlamayor, who gave the USA fits in the first half. On the goal, Villamayor lost two defenders in the corner and dribbled down the end line. Her cross then eluded two defenders who might have had a chance to clear and fell to the feet of the diminutive Rebecca Fernandez, whose quick shot beat goalkeeper Taylor Vancil into the right corner.

Paraguay’s shock score sent the USA into halftime down by a goal and needing at least two in the second half to keep their World Cup hopes alive.  At halftime, Tambi sent on forwards Vicki DiMartino and Courtney Verloo and the duo immediately made a difference as the USA started to dominate the match.

Still, the US caught a break just three minutes into the second half as Harris, who played a fine match at the defensive midfield slot, sent an excellent ball to Elizabeth Eddy on the right wing. Paraguayan goalkeeper Zulma Orue came sliding out in the deep right corner of the penalty area, but could not corral the ball. Eddy popped free with it and crossed into a penalty box devoid of US players. Somehow Paraguayan defender Cris Marbel Flores bundled the cross and accidentally put it into her own net as she tried to clear.

The Americans pressed on and would get rewarded twice more, the first courtesy of DiMartino who notched her second of the tournament in the 78th minute. With the match starting to move into nervous time for the Americans, they burst forward on a counter down the right side after a rare Paraguay foray and once again Eddy crossed into the middle. The ball skipped off a Paraguayan player to Klei, who perfectly played the ball into the path of DiMartino who easily finished from the center of the penalty area into the lower right corner from eight yards out, putting the USA ahead.

The US could easily have scored a few more goals as Verloo missed a sitter in the 66th minute after DiMartino had played her a square ball inside the six yard box. Verloo also smacked a shot off the base of the left post in the 81st minute.   Verloo would not miss in the 83rd minute as she scored the USA’s third goal after winning a ball deep in Paraguyan territory. She cut into the middle and powered a drive into the upper left corner for the final margin. Verloo put the ball into the net one more time in the game after a Mewis header had been saved by the keeper, but she was  offside.

The Americans had plenty of flank play in the game, consistently getting around the outside of Paraguayan defense, but too many services were not precise and were cleared away by scrambling defenders. Paraguay did manage nine shots in the match, but six were in the first half and none of the three after the break troubled Vancil. The loss eliminated the Paraguayans from the tournament in their first appearance at a FIFA Women’s World Cup.

In the other Group C game, Japan continued its spectacular play with a 7-1 smashing of France, a game in which Japan led 5-1 after just 38 minutes. The result was positive for the Americans, who ended their early match with a plus one goal difference to France’s plus four. Japan’s romp in the later game flipped France’s difference to minus 2 and now the US can advance to the quarters with a win or a draw.